Mental Health Update

How good sleep can help bipolar disorder.

Ah, sleep. A good’s night sleep, for those of us fortunate enough to get it, is usually taken for granted and arguably a rather boring subject to think about. However, for those of us struggling with depression, bipolar or anxiety disorders, a good night's sleep is truly more precious than gold and as I’ve learned from studying psychology, and managing my own depression, extremely important to maintenance of mental health. I wanted to write about sleep because I feel that it is often overlooked in the treatment plan for people wanting to overcome mental illness.

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Read more from this blogger: Dr. Deyo Wants You To Be Happy : The Importance of Sleep to Good Mental Health

An open letter to the bipolar community.

Something that you should remember though, is that approaching other bipolars and asking if you’re crazy, can hurt them too. It smarts, partly because some of us have been in that position, and partly because that’s how some of the less knowledgeable members of society see bipolar disorder.

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Read more from this blogger: Live, thrive, survive � An open letter part 2 – bi-polar disorder

A good post on Seasonal Affective Disorder and depression.

While some people can shake the winter doldrums, there are those who become depressed or find their depression deepen during the dark months.

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Read more from this blogger: Dr. Deborah Serani: Leave a Light On

Vision loss can lead to depression.

I’m dealing with a range of emotions while my ‘good’ eye is loosing sight fast. The world is no longer clear in any way, shape or form. Where there was once definition and recognition, there is now a foggy haze. I’ll be heading down to the eye center this coming Wednesday- I’m pretty sure what they’ll tell me, that the myositis is spreading. I’m tapering off the prednisone, slowly getting it out of my system, but I still can’t walk far nor do much without help. I wanted to sanitize my bird feeders today, but I did good to strip my bed before I tumbled back into it. I sleep too much.. and I know it’s depression sneaking into my psyche, because part of me wants to be numb and not deal with this any longer.

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Read more from this blogger: WoodSong- Off the Beaten Path � Curiosity vs Fearless

If you felt a little depressed while you were with your family during the holidays, check out this post.

When with family, we often experience sadness, anger and need to take a deep breath and “be in the moment”. We don’t need to verbalize all of our emotions; we can be selective about the emotions we share with family and close friends. Perhaps we can expand our ability to connect with ourselves in a more caring manner.

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Read more from this blogger: Psychotherapy Perspectives: Holiday Myth and What to Expect